Republican Vote Fraud

Based on the 2000 and 2004 presidential
elections, we know that vote fraud has been a very successful issue for
the Republican Party: The more vote fraud they commit, the more
successful they are.

That’s why it was no surprise when Republican
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, co-chairman of the John McCain
campaign in Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit to try to prevent thousands of state voters from casting their ballots.

Republicans used similar tactics in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004 to remove thousands of voters from the rolls based on confusion over names, addresses and clerical records.

The
cover story this time is that Van Hollen claims to be concerned because
the names or addresses of many new voters who have registered since
2006 don’t match state driver’s license records or other bureaucratic
sources.

There
are many innocent explanations for such discrepancies. Sometimes
numbers are transposed by clerical error or names are recorded
differently because of nicknames or middle initials. Differences in addresses are particularly common among low income voters who move frequently.

Republicans
have made exaggerated claims in recent years about vote fraud to try to
justify requiring photo IDs for voting, a roadblock that
disproportionately affects low-income, minority and elderly voters who
are less likely to have driver’s licenses and more likely to vote
Democratic.

The good news for anyone truly concerned about
vote fraud as a result of the Republicans’ repeated claims is that
every time legitimate law enforcement investigates, it finds almost no
vote fraud. In Milwaukee, that was confirmed by a joint investigation
by the Milwaukee County district attorney, a Democrat, and the U.S.
attorney, a Republican.

Common sense tells you why. Anyone
convicted of vote fraud goes to federal prison. Risking incarceration
to cast an illegal vote that would make an infinitesimal difference in
the outcome of an election is senseless. In the 2004 election, I waited
in line for more than three hours in Milwaukee to cast my vote.
Fiendish illegal voters would have to be out of their minds to get back in line to wait three more hours to vote again.

Where’s the Incentive?

Republican
claims of vote fraud were recently revived after reports that employees hired to register voters for community groups in Milwaukee had
submitted fraudulent registrations. The community groups themselves
discovered the fraudulent registrations and reported them to the
Milwaukee Election Commission. The commission referred them to the
district attorney for possible prosecution.

The results of the
district attorney’s investigation should be very interesting. To prevent the submission of fraudulent registrations, vote drives no longer
pay employees by the number of registrations they turn in. Employees
are paid an hourly rate, regard less of how many voters they register.
There is absolutely no incentive for employees to turn in fraudulent
registrations.

In fact, one of the few groups with any
incentive to put phony voters on the rolls is the Republican Party.
That could then be used to justify all of the obstacles they are eager
to put in the way of likely Democratic voters.

Investigate
away, Mr. District Attorney. It would be wrong to prejudge the
investigation, but if the Republican Party turns out to be involved in
any way, hang ’em high.

One of the false claims Van Hollen makes is
that his lawsuit is not intended to prevent anyone from voting. Anyone
with a clerical discrepancy on voter registration records would be
allowed to cast a provisional ballot, he said. Casting a provisional
ballot is not the same as being allowed to vote. Provisional ballots
are set aside.

Provisional voters are required to return by
the next day with additional paperwork. Then, if the ballots are
necessary to determine who wins an election, someone might actually
count them.

Those who cast provisional ballots essentially have to
show up twice to have their votes countedmaybe. Other voters only have
to show up once on Election Day.

Republicans want to make voters jump
through more and more hoops so that many of them will become
discouraged and fall away. That is especially true of low-income voters
who lack transportation and have other difficulties in their lives to
distract them from voting.

By attempting to remove thousands
of registered voters from the voting rolls, Republicans are making
Election Day more difficult for all of us, especially those of us who
live in urban areas.

By forcing thousands of legitimate voters
to re-register at their polling places or to go through additional
paperwork to cast provisional ballots, Republicans hope to create even
more delays at urban polling places.

Those of us who waited
three hours to vote in 2004 may have to wait four hours or more this
time. Stay mad the entire time and stay more determined than ever to
triumph over Republican vote fraud.

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Joel McNally is a national-award-winning newspaper columnist and a longtime political commentator on Milwaukee radio and television. Since 1997, Joel has written a column for the Shepherd Express where he also was editor for two years.

Comments (5)

I agree. Everyone has a social securty number and ...

I agree. Everyone has a social securty number and should be able to have some sort of government ID. The only ones who cant get an US citizen ID are illegals. The system needs an overhaul so we cant get distracted anymore. BTW, TCin Tampa, Karl Rove knows a little about voter fraud.

Brendanmore than 9 years ago

If you don't have an acceptable ID how do you func...

If you don't have an acceptable ID how do you function in society in general. I don't have a problem making sure that records are up to date and accurate. It's not like you still can't register at the polls either. What a slant by the Shepherd Express. Talk about inciting panic. Whoa.

Jeremymore than 9 years ago

If we're so concerned about voting fraud, how can ...

If we're so concerned about voting fraud, how can we NOT require IDs to vote? Low-income, minority, elderly - along with everyone else, as part of a responsible society, needs a government issued ID card to be employed, to apply for any type of financing, etc. I'm not sure how anyone can be a functioning part of society without an ID.

Anonymousmore than 9 years ago

To say it a little more eloquently, I think it's o...

To say it a little more eloquently, I think it's only fair to recognize that fraud is rich in both parties when you look for it.

Anonymousmore than 9 years ago

You are one dumb mother f-er. Everybody knows how...

You are one dumb mother f-er. Everybody knows how corrupt the dems are.

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